Radiant Pool liner separating

[Mainedadx2]

I have a Radiant Pool that I am having difficulties getting the liner to stay in. I have had it for 2 years now and each winter the winter cover displaces the water inside the pool and pushes it out the top of the skimmer (gizmo installed). Not only that but the liner has separated requiring me to drain the rest of the water to put it back in. Any suggestions?

 

[Jamison04]

Try to work on getting that area back in place when it is in the sun. That will soften the liner up and make it stretch easier to get it back in place. You can wedge some pennies in the channel once you have it pack in place and that will help hold it from pulling back out. There is also liner lock that prevents the liner from slipping out of the track. It comes in various lengths. 120ft of it on amazon goes for about $45. You need roughly 85ft to go all the way around with a 27ft pool.

How much do you drain the water down before covering it? I'm guessing you use a solid cover since it is able to displace that much water. Best remedy for that is to always be on top of excess water on top of the cover and pump as much off as you can to keep it from forcing water out of the pool.

 

[2kCougar]

I wish I had a solution. I have the same problem with my radiant pool! I lost a foot of water using their cover this winter. Previously I used the standard winter cover with a bubble and didn't lose any water. I'm amazed my skimmer box didn't crack.

I'm still working on trying to get the liner back in certain spots. Normally I've been able to roll it back in place even when the pool is full. To make matters worse, my cover ripped under the strain of the lower water level.

 

[Mainedadx2]

I like the idea of the liner lock. Have you used it before. I have heard of using popsicle sticks. We live in Maine so its not easy to pump off all of the precip because it comes in the form of snow and its not practical to shovel it off. I think i'm going to switch to a regular winter cover. The one from Radiant goes into the side just above the liner in the coping and has lots of slack, when it fills it pulls down on the coping this year the cover ripped.

 

[Lear]

I'm sorry to hear the problems you are having with your pool. I have a Radiant pool also, and for me its been one headache after the next related to the liner.

Consider yourself lucky that you haven't experienced complete water loss multiple times like me.

To me, it seems like the liner just doesn't want to stay in. The track for the bead being too open and the liner bead goes vertical. Some spots it can't make it past a 45 degree angle before it hits the top of the bead track. other spots it can go fully vertical and flip out of the track. Last year it took two different pool installers 3 or 4 times to get a pool that lasted for the rest of the summer. I even was lucky enough to have a coping completely snap the bead track right off.

Opening this spring. Well can't even say I was able to open the pool. It opened itself 2 weeks early. Complete water loss. Both the liner and the winter cover went under the side wall. No one really knows what happened. Given the issues with the liner I had last year, my guess is the liner came out and when the water level got low enough, then the winter cover pulled in and all that winter water took the rest of the liner with it.

The strange part about the picture you posted is that the liner is coming out next to where the two copings meet, and not on that joint. Definitely get that put back in. You might need to lower the water level. I am definitely going to look into bead locks.

Last year I temporally use a plastic straw as a bead lock. Like one of those thick plastic ones. My worry about Popsicle sticks is that they won't last. Let me know if you find a particular bead lock that works with the Radiant coping. I didn't do it last year because I was afraid of snapping more coping. I regret that and wish I put in bead locks.

Here is another thing to consider. Was the coping installed correctly? Mine was not, and it can't be fixed without moving the pool. I guess recently Radiant must have found a flaw in their design and reworked the instructions on how to install the coping. My installer didn't get the memo. Coping should overlap the wall seams by 2-3 feet. Issue is that two wall sections can become out of level and then the difference between two coping sections is too great for the liner bead to safely traverse. Resulting in either one coping snapping or the lining coming out of the other.

 

[Egghead2004]

All this warm weather up here has me looking at pool posts, I hope things went better for you this year.
I have found what works best with my Radiant Pool is to just not cover it. I run the pump and SWG as long as I can, usually in November the SWG stops working due to low water temperature. Then clean it and winterize.
I blow out all of my lines, drain filter, and remove pump. The pool is drained down about 10-12" below the return jets. I dump some antifreeze in the lines just in case the Gizmo in the skimmer and plugs for the returns lose the seal during winter, my pipes are under ground. Then just leave it. During winter if the snow melts or it rains and raises the ice level up to the return plugs, I'll dump some salt in a pile to melt a small hole through the ice. Even if you do not use a SWG system, 20 pounds of salt isn't going to harm anything. A garden hose can be used to siphon out a few inches out to keep the ice from reaching the return plugs, skimmer, and most importantly the liner bead. Ice can damage almost anything. When water freezes, that expansion causes tremendous pressure, even in a pool. I would rather spend a couple more hours skimming leaves then dealing with ice damage. No cover for my pool unless someone has a strong argument that proves I can do more damage than ice can.

 

[richierich]

Why not use a micro mesh cover? That's what I use for my pool. It lets the water just easily flow through the cover. No displacement of water. I think I got mine for my 15 foot pool for under $50. I was paranoid about the weight of snow and rain sagging my cover and pulling my poles inward.....

 

[Poolseeker1]

Hi! I am having a Radiant 16x32 pool installed this summer. Is their anything I need to know? We are purchasing a Hayward VS Omni Pump with smart control mineral system, Acrylic steps, Heater, LED Light.... It is being installed 18” in ground.

 

[Kobiewhite]

I'm sorry to hear the problems you are having with your pool. I have a Radiant pool also, and for me its been one headache after the next related to the liner.

Consider yourself lucky that you haven't experienced complete water loss multiple times like me.

To me, it seems like the liner just doesn't want to stay in. The track for the bead being too open and the liner bead goes vertical. Some spots it can't make it past a 45 degree angle before it hits the top of the bead track. other spots it can go fully vertical and flip out of the track. Last year it took two different pool installers 3 or 4 times to get a pool that lasted for the rest of the summer. I even was lucky enough to have a coping completely snap the bead track right off.

Opening this spring. Well can't even say I was able to open the pool. It opened itself 2 weeks early. Complete water loss. Both the liner and the winter cover went under the side wall. No one really knows what happened. Given the issues with the liner I had last year, my guess is the liner came out and when the water level got low enough, then the winter cover pulled in and all that winter water took the rest of the liner with it.

The strange part about the picture you posted is that the liner is coming out next to where the two copings meet, and not on that joint. Definitely get that put back in. You might need to lower the water level. I am definitely going to look into bead locks.

Last year I temporally use a plastic straw as a bead lock. Like one of those thick plastic ones. My worry about Popsicle sticks is that they won't last. Let me know if you find a particular bead lock that works with the Radiant coping. I didn't do it last year because I was afraid of snapping more coping. I regret that and wish I put in bead locks.

Here is another thing to consider. Was the coping installed correctly? Mine was not, and it can't be fixed without moving the pool. I guess recently Radiant must have found a flaw in their design and reworked the instructions on how to install the coping. My installer didn't get the memo. Coping should overlap the wall seams by 2-3 feet. Issue is that two wall sections can become out of level and then the difference between two coping sections is too great for the liner bead to safely traverse. Resulting in either one coping snapping or the lining coming out of the other.

 

[Kobiewhite]

I can’t believe that I finally ran across someone else that realized that the coping ends shouldn’t go over the wall joints. I complained about this the second day my pool was installed. I was told several times by Ecotherm and installer/dealer that it didn’t matter. Yes it matters big time. Now it appears that I will have to replace liner and coping myself. Now their excuse is Covid. I might better have bought an inflatable one.